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From the moment of her ascension to the throne in 1952 at the age of twenty-five, Queen Elizabeth II was the object of unparalleled scrutiny. But through the fog of glamour and gossip, how well did we really know the world’s most famous monarch? Drawing on numerous interviews and never-before-revealed documents, acclaimed biographer Sally Bedell Smith pulls back the curtain to show in intimate detail the public and private lives of Queen Elizabeth II, who led her country and Commonwealth through the wars and upheavals of the last twentieth and twenty-first centuries with unparalleled composure, intelligence, and grace.
In Elizabeth the Queen, we meet the young girl who suddenly becomes “heiress presumptive” when her uncle abdicates the throne. We meet the thirteen-year-old Lilibet as she falls in love with a young navy cadet named Philip and becomes determined to marry him, even though her parents prefer wealthier English aristocrats. We see the teenage Lilibet repairing army trucks during World War II and standing with Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on V-E Day. We see the young Queen struggling to balance the demands of her job with her role as the mother of two young children.
Sally Bedell Smith brings us inside the palace doors and into the Queen’s daily routines—the “red boxes” of documents she reviewed each day, the weekly meetings she had with twelve prime ministers, her physically demanding tours abroad, and the constant scrutiny of the press—as well as her personal relationships: with her husband, Prince Philip, the love of her life; her children and their often-disastrous marriages; her grandchildren and friends.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
January 10, 2012 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307934208
- File size: 617841 KB
- Duration: 21:27:10
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Just in time for the Diamond Jubilee, this entertaining biography traces Queen Elizabeth II's life and reign. Rosalyn Landor's posh British voice lends a perfect aristocratic tone to this respectful account of the graceful queen's politics and personality, especially her delightful wit, political savvy, and remarkable commitment to the constitutional limits of the monarchy. Landor lends a subtle twinkle to amusing details such as what the queen carries in her ubiquitous handbags and what frozen food fascinated her during her spontaneous stop at a suburban grocery store during a mid-1950s visit to the U.S. Landor's straight reading is exceptionally effective--but a bit distracting for some famous voices: It's odd to hear the words of George W. Bush in a posh British accent. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine -
April 30, 2012
Bedell’s biography charts the life of Queen Elizabeth II, from her youthful receipt of the title “heiress presumptive” and first love to her ascension to the throne and transformation into England’s current monarch. Rosalyn Landor narrates in a light, authentic British accent. Her pace is steady and her tone appropriately soothing throughout. And while this meticulously researched biography doesn’t offer the narrator an opportunity to produce many character voices, she nonetheless turns in a winning performance. Additionally, Bedell reads the book’s brief preface, explaining—in her American accent, which, to a certain degree, casts her as an outsider—her lifelong fascination with Elizabeth and determination to make the iconic and enigmatic queen both human and accessible. A Random House hardcover. -
December 19, 2011
In her 60-year-reign, Elizabeth II has evolved “from beautiful ingénue to businesslike working mother to wise grandmother,” whose grave public persona conceals her spirit, intelligence, humor, and joie de vivre. In a respectful, engrossing, and perceptive portrayal, Smith (Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess) relates that Elizabeth defied her mother in marrying her cheeky third-cousin Prince Philip of Greece, but she bowed to Churchill in not adopting Philip’s surname, which strained their marriage; while her laissez-faire attitude toward child-rearing allowed a flinty, critical Philip to dominate the sensitive Charles. Her compassion in shaking hands with cured Nigerian lepers in 1956 prefigured Diana’s handshake with an AIDS patient in 1987. But while some of the inner workings of the monarchy are exposed, Smith often pulls her punches; the queen’s passion for her dogs and horses gets more ink than daughters-in-law Camilla and Sophie, and the monarch remains distant, her thoughts and feelings ultimately unknowable. Photos. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM.
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